Olympics – Cold weather, Covid hotel and isolation: athletes in revolt in Beijing

Athletes in quarantine for no reason, others suspended and then rehabilitated (like the Australians of curling, yesterday in the race despite a slight positivity), still others “in tears for the inhuman conditions of isolation” and then the extreme cold that is causing crisis cross-country skiers and biathletes. The honeymoon of the Beijing Games lasted only a few days, which were supposed to be “unique and splendid” but are beginning to show some flaws, despite the monstrous organization fielded by China.

The cold

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The Swedish delegation asked for the cross-country races to be brought forward at the beginning of the day after Frida Karlsson, assisted by doctors after the skiathlon, with frozen hands and feet. “I don’t remember anything,” she declared, after being warmed and fed. The FIS rules say that you cannot compete in temperatures below -20, Saturday at the National Cross-Country Center in Zhangjiakou, 130 miles northwest of Beijing, and the thermometer read -13, but in combination with the wind the conditions were extreme. Dorothea Wierer also spoke of the difficulties she suffered from the cold after the mixed biathlon relay. “We have the limits of the limits for the cold, but I don’t know if they also measure the effect of the wind,” Swedish team boss Anders Bystroem told reporters. “The skiathlon started at 4 pm and the Karlsson was eventually destroyed by the cold. We need to bring the sprint race time forward “.

Isolation

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The anticovid controls are very tight to safeguard everyone, but the athletes complained above all of the extreme conditions faced in isolation. “I have been living in fear for a week – said Polish speed skating Natalia Maliszewska, forced to jump 500 meters of short track -. I cry until I have no more tears ”. Released because she was negative, she was stopped again on the eve of qualifying for another positive test.

And Belgian skeleton Kim Meylemans posted a desperate video on social media after she was told she could not enter the Olympic village, even if negativized. For days it was parked in another facility. “Our main goal was to get Kim to the Yanqing Olympic Village as quickly as possible,” said the head of the Belgian Olympic delegation, Olav Spahl. “We understand that Covid measures are necessary to safeguard the safety and health of the participants in the Games, but we believe that the athlete must always be at the center of such an approach.” There are those who like Finnish hockey Marko Anttila are still in isolation, according to him for no reason. “From a medical point of view, we know that a person like him is no longer contagious, he does not pose a danger to the other team,” said Finnish team doctor Maarit Valtonen. “These isolation decisions are not based on medicine or science, they are more cultural and political.”

The response of the IOC

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In yesterday’s press meeting, the IOC spokesman said that information is being collected on the cases and that they are working with the organizers to resolve them. But to those who ask about Covid hotels, the answer is that “We feel for every athlete who cannot compete due to a Covid-19 infection. Protocols have been put in place to ensure safe Olympic Games for all ”.